The popular cruiserweight prospect Aloys Junior was given plenty to think about by Oronzo Birardi before emerging a points winner over 10 rounds.
Junior won by margins of 98-92, 97-93 ad 97-93 to move to 8-1 (7 KOs). The plucky Birardi is now 8-1 (6 KOs).
Junior, trained by Ben Davison, came out looking to work the body early, and closed the gap with a double jab, but Birardi was not overawed.
The Italian, who lives in Germany, attempted to lead with his right often and broke through in the third with a right uppercut that prompted a spell of unexpected dominance.
Birardi was on his toes and boxing well and silencing the home crowd. Junior’s mouth was sliced open and his output was dropping. Birardi was more than comfortable with the pace their fight was being contested at.
Junior bulled forward in the sixth, however, and momentum began to swing his way once more with Birardi seemingly slowing. Birardi did not look as positive with three rounds to go, and in the eighth the referee Bob Williams ruled Birardi had been hit in the back and the visitor was given time to recover.
Still, Alloys landed a couple of lead left hooks as the round progressed and he was, by now, busier and better. His jab was a far more useful tool than it had been and Birardi swallowed a clean right hand near the bell to close the ninth.
Junior controlled the 10th, too. There is plenty to work with, but Junior is 21 and has time on his side.
The junior middleweight Ben Fail had his hands full with Panama’s Omir Rodriguez throughout eight physical and hard-fought rounds.
Fail improved to 7-0 (5 KOs) with a 77-74 victory, including scoring a knockdown in the second round, and Fail bled from his nose and scalp by the final bell.
The tall Northampton southpaw, nicknamed “Big Ben”, was happy to surrender his height and reach advantages to mix it up on the inside but Rodriguez was equally content to fight back. In his last outing, the Panamanian – now 15-20-1 (6 KOs) – had defeated 10-0 Ashlee Evans over six rounds.
Rodriguez didn’t come for the pay check and he certainly didn’t come to lie down. Fail’s nose was bleeding by the second and Rodriguez tried to time him with big right hands.
His trainer Martin Bowers told Fail he was going to break Rodriguez down after the fifth, but Rodriguez came out and was industrious early in the sixth, working with both hands to the body, and it proved another hard-fought round.
Rodriguez, ultimately, went nowhere, and he made Fail fight all the way to the final bell.
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